My journey as a woman and mother of young children who is dealing with metastatic inflammatory breast cancer

Susan G. Komen for the Cure – join me September 25th!

The history of Komen is that there were two sisters, Nancy and Susan. Susan got breast canser and died and during the fight Nancy promised to help end breast cansar (remember I misspell it on purpose). So far Komen has invested over 1.3 Billion dollars in non-profit funds to research, helping survivors and spreading the word about this disease. Current estimates are that in the next twenty-five years, ten million women could die of breast canxer alone, worldwide.

The local Komen Race for the Cure is on September 25th this year. My birthday. Last year I had a team, this year I have a team and I’m going to do my best to walk the 5K. I may be slow, but if all goes as I want, I’ll walk it. There was about 36 people on my team last year including my kids, mother, sister, stepmother, husband, friends, in laws and even a couple of ‘strangers’ and we raised close to $4,000. I’m starting our team a little later this year than I did last year but I hope to have as many or more than last year (I keep trying to post a photo but it keeps telling me they are too big), and to raise more money this year. 75% of the net proceeds stay in the Greater Cincinnati area (for education, screening and support programs) and the other 25% goes to the national Komen fund Research and Awards fund.

The local organization has been great to me during the last 15 months. The ladies who run it are amazing and thoughtful and wonderful. They have invited my family and I to several events, I even taped a commercial with them and other survivors at a local amusement park to promote their program for the cure. One of the women who runs it just checks in with me every so often to see how I’m doing.

You don’t have to raise additional money if you want to participate. You don’t have to participate. I will however ask unabashedly for your support of our team. I need the new treatments and the strides that are being made. I need this disease cured. I’d prefer it in time to get it out of my body. I’ll take it in time to keep my kids from having to face this. Komen is big, Komen raises a lot of money and funds a lot of research and they still find ways to help out individuals.

If you would like to join us, you are welcome. I’ll get an email when you register. There are lots of options, you can even register to “Sleep in for the Cure” and get your number and shirt but not actually be there. There is a special Kids Fun Run that you can register your kids for and you can even volunteer to work. I certainly didn’t expect to get involved with Komen like I did after last year but I’m glad I’ve been able to do so. Please support our team and help survivors locally as well as contributing to finding a cure.